Intelligence about "sunken" ships

[Sieppo]

Why does it change all the time? Does the code try to deduct the sinking of ships somehow (for example fighter units not flying from an CV etc)? I had a huge fight and I keep getting these reports about CV's being sunk or suddenly not being sunk and then sunk again..

[Canoerebel]

Fog of War. You'll often receive reports of enemy ships sunk when they were actually only damaged. For instance, BB Fuso gets hit by one TT and shows up on the "Ships Lost" screen as sunk. Later, you get a report that the intial report was incorrect and that she's still afloat. Happens all the time.

One way of "seeing through" the Fog of War is to pay attention to total points for enemy ships sunk. As far as I've been able to tell, an increase in that total is always reliable. So, if it's June 30, 1942 and your "total points for enemy ships sunk screen" was 200 ships and 2,150 points the day before, and if during that turn you get two TTs and four bomb strikes vs. CV Junyo, and the next day the total points goes to 201 and 2,310 points (I'm guestimating here that Junyo is worth 260 points), then you can be pretty certain she was sunk.

[Chickenboy]

Also, for those larger ships (CA, BB, AV, CV, CVL, etc.) that carry planes, the aircraft destroyed "on field" for the following turn are telling. I've not seen too much fog of war on that. When combined with a probable sinking and I'm told that 3-4 Seagulls were destroyed "on field", I know that an Allied CA (or BB) is in Davey Jones' locker.

[Sieppo]

Ok thanks for the info!

[jeffk3510]

I never thought of Dan's method. Good idea, Dan.

Looking at destroyed aircraft like CB mentioned is the method I use, and it seems to be pretty accurate..

[Czert]

jup info about lost planes aboard ships is pretty reliable, when i see in CR that ship xx was sunk i allways tell ok, hope you have true, but once i see ship planes lost in CR im VERY sure that ship was sunk even if combat report say it was not sunk.

[Sieppo]

Back to my original question. What is the IRL equivalence the game is trying to mimic here? Why is it built into the code? I mean that ships arent shown as sunken when they are and vice versa. Its fun and brings more to the game but did it happen IRL? Were there people whose job was to try to find out if ships were sunk or not and how did they do it?

[Sieppo]

ORIGINAL: czert2

jup info about lost planes aboard ships is pretty reliable, when i see in CR that ship xx was sunk i allways tell ok, hope you have true, but once i see ship planes lost in CR im VERY sure that ship was sunk even if combat report say it was not sunk.

I didnt get CR to work on my computers . Is it the same as planes lost on ground in the Tracker?

EDIT: im pretty sure it is since I got a couple of hundred there after the battle and thought that i must have sunk something for real. just not sure how the fow affects that one.

[Cap Mandrake]

Planes destroyed on a carrier deck (or hangar) are reported as "destroyed on the ground"

[Justus2]

ORIGINAL: Sieppo

ORIGINAL: czert2

jup info about lost planes aboard ships is pretty reliable, when i see in CR that ship xx was sunk i allways tell ok, hope you have true, but once i see ship planes lost in CR im VERY sure that ship was sunk even if combat report say it was not sunk.

I didnt get CR to work on my computers . Is it the same as planes lost on ground in the Tracker?

EDIT: im pretty sure it is since I got a couple of hundred there after the battle and thought that i must have sunk something for real. just not sure how the fow affects that one.

CR in that post I believe means the Combat Report that you read in-game. Regarding your other question, on how accurate that was compared to RL, there were indeed intel sections at the HQs trying to confirm the enemy OOB, status of ships, etc. Ships were often misidentified (like the oiler Neosho at Coral Sea, that the IJ pilots reported as a carrier), excited pilots would report a ship sunk when it was burning or listing, and when they attacked it again they would report it as a new ship. It affected both sides.

Obviously a different time then, the press was not as omnipresent or as instantaneous as today. The Allies implemented a number of wartime censorship measures. The Japanese were even more extreme, after the battle of Midway, the surviving crew from the carriers was kept in separate hospitals and guarded against contact with the public, so they didn't have to admit the losses. If you notice, in the Operations report at the end of the turn, occasionally you will see a notification like "Loss of DD Sims admitted", that is your government effectively confirming press reports.

[Sieppo]

Ok thanks! I've missed those admmittance-reports.

[Czert]

ORIGINAL: Sieppo

ORIGINAL: czert2

jup info about lost planes aboard ships is pretty reliable, when i see in CR that ship xx was sunk i allways tell ok, hope you have true, but once i see ship planes lost in CR im VERY sure that ship was sunk even if combat report say it was not sunk.

I didnt get CR to work on my computers . Is it the same as planes lost on ground in the Tracker?

EDIT: im pretty sure it is since I got a couple of hundred there after the battle and thought that i must have sunk something for real. just not sure how the fow affects that one.

With CR i meaned combat report which is in game .

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Sieppo

Back to my original question. What is the IRL equivalence the game is trying to mimic here? Why is it built into the code? I mean that ships arent shown as sunken when they are and vice versa. Its fun and brings more to the game but did it happen IRL? Were there people whose job was to try to find out if ships were sunk or not and how did they do it?

The Japanese were so sure they'd sunk Yorktown at Coral Sea that when she showed up at Midway, they thought it was a new carrier they didn't even know about.

Just one example. Also wonder how many times they reported Big E as sunk.

Also the post-battle reports by Tanaka and such from the naval battles off Guadalcanal, reporting to have sunk a battleship, couple CAs, a light cruiser, and some DDs when in fact he'd sunk one DD while heavily damaging 4 CAs and such. I find this aspect of the game feels realistic. The label "fog of war" is very accurate.

[Sieppo]

True! I was just a bit confused about how this was done IRL. I mean deducting a ship is sunk, then not sunk, then sunk again etc .

[TSCofield]

I think the Lexington (CV16) was claimed sunk by the Japanese at least three times and kept showing up again and again.